


Good Country

by Derry (derryderrydown)



Category: Frontier Wolf - Sutcliff
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-24
Updated: 2009-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-05 03:41:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/37425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/derryderrydown/pseuds/Derry





	Good Country

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jay Tryfanstone (tryfanstone)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tryfanstone/gifts).



Alexios lay on the short grass, crumbling his bannock as much as eating it, and taking in the sweet heather smell of early summer. There were bees buzzing close to and, occasionally, the whinny of a mare could be heard from the distant summer pastures. Other than that, it was silence and Alexios found he was weloming the respite from Castellum more and more.

So he was startled when Cunorix spoke.

"Tell me about your country."

Alexios blinked. "Rome?" It was hard to think of the city when he was here. Hard to think of straight, hard streets and crumbling marble.

"No, no. Your country, where your family is."

"Ah." Alexios smiled at that. "The farm." He'd grown up there, knowing the change of the seasons as something more physical than dates and times. And he had that again here, with the grass live and growing beneath his forearm. "It's softer than the country here. Richer."

"What animals did you keep?"

"Sheep, mostly. The downs are good country for them. Some cattle, some pigs. We grow enough corn for our needs."

"And the hunting?"

Alexios rolled onto his back and shut his eyes. "Not as good as here. There are too many people. Some deer, some wolf, but mostly just hares, rabbits, foxes." He shaded his eyes with his arm and looked up at Cunorix. "Why do you ask?"

Cunorix shrugged. "Curious." After a moment, he added, "It's easy to think that all of Britain is like this." He nodded at the grass, heather and bracken stretched out below and above them, colours bright in the sun; at the rolling contours that stretched away to the horizon.

"It isn't," Alexios said, thinking of his stop at Eburacum on his journey north. "I could wish it was."

"Sa." Cunorix's sudden smile blazed in his face. "It's good country."

"Good hunting country," Alexios said, and ate the last bite of his bannock. He sat up and ruffled his hair, dusting off the grass.


End file.
